Donald Trump is now increasing pressure on European companies, demanding they abolish their diversity programs to secure contracts and future trade with the US. The decision has sparked criticism and concern among businesses in the EU, with French authorities calling the move an unacceptable interference.
On 20 January 2025, Donald Trump signed an executive order banning diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs in the US federal sector.
Affected companies are being urged to certify their compliance with Trump’s directive – or risk losing their contracts.
“We inform you that Executive Order 14173, Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-based Opportunities, signed by President Trump, applies to all suppliers and service providers of the US Government, regardless of their nationality and the country in which they operate“, the letter reads, according to reports from France24.
French telecom giant Orange is one of the companies that received the demand, even though it has no operations in the US. Reuters reports that the demand surprises French officials, who do not expect American influence on purely European companies.
The Trump admin has ordered French firms with U.S. contracts to follow his DEI ban, sparking concerns over U.S. influence on European businesses. France’s finance minister plans to take up the issue with Washington. #DEI#TrumpPolicy
Read more: https://t.co/8C5V7zOnw1pic.twitter.com/gc6nwdBfO4
France’s trade ministry reacts strongly and condemns Trump’s actions. A spokesperson reportedly states that “US interference in French companies’ inclusion policies is unacceptable, just like its unjustified tariff threats”.
The Trump administration is backing the claims, citing US laws such as the False Claims Act, which gives the US the right to impose conditions on federal contractors, including foreign companies.
However, EU lawyers question whether this extends to companies without a US presence.
Trade tensions loom
European companies thus appear to have to choose between complying with US demands or sticking to their own values, in the light of Donald Trump’s announcement.
Media reports from France and elsewhere say that most French executives are considering ignoring the letters, while others see legal obstacles to complying.
Donald Trump’s demands risk creating further tensions between the EU and the US, as several European governments see the move as a threat to national sovereignty.
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Tech billionaire and former White House Efficiency Chief Elon Musk sharply criticizes US President Donald Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which was recently passed by a narrow majority in the House of Representatives.
According to Musk, the budget proposal is a “disgusting abomination” – and he is supported by several prominent libertarian figures.
The budget proposal, which aims to prevent a tax increase at the end of the year while raising the ceiling on the US’s already staggering national debt by an additional $4 trillion, has now been sent to the Senate.
Musk, who recently resigned as head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has repeatedly criticized the budget, claiming that it undermines his efforts to reduce the federal budget deficit.
“I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination”, he wrote on X on Tuesday.
“Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it”, he added.
I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore.
This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.
Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.
In an interview with CBS News last week, Musk emphasized that the legislation “undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing” because it “increases the budget deficit”.
However, House Speaker Mike Johnson dismissed Musk’s criticism, saying that the legislation actually secures $1.6 trillion in savings, reduces spending, and provides tax breaks.
– With all due respect, Elon is simply wrong about the One Big Beautiful Bill, he told reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, adding that “Congress is working hard to get this to President Trump’s desk by July 4th”.
When asked about Musk’s criticism, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt replied that Trump is aware of the former presidential adviser’s views on the matter.
– It doesn’t change the president’s opinion, she told reporters on Tuesday.
I agree with Elon. We have both seen the massive waste in government spending and we know another $5 trillion in debt is a huge mistake.
Trump himself seems to wholeheartedly support the budget:
“Passing THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL is a historic opportunity to turn our country around”, he wrote on social media, urging the Senate on Monday “to work as fast as they can to get this bill to MY DESK before the fourth of JULY”.
Even libertarian senators Thomas Massie and Rand Paul have criticized the budget, pointing out that it raises the US debt ceiling by several trillion dollars.
During a meeting at the White House on Wednesday, President Donald Trump confronted South African President Cyril Ramaphosa with accusations that genocide is currently being committed against white farmers in the country.
To emphasize the seriousness of the situation, Trump ordered the lights in the Oval Office to be dimmed and showed a five-minute film detailing how South African politicians are inciting murder and systematic violence against the country’s white minority.
Trump said he had not yet “made up his mind” whether it was appropriate to use the term “genocide” in this context, but stated that “thousands” of white South Africans had so far sought refugee status in the US and that he wanted to “save lives”.
The film included clips in which Julius Malema, leader of the left-wing populist party Economic Freedom Fighters, can be clearly heard calling for murder and violence.
– Revolution demands at some point there must be killing, the notorious politician claims in the film.
Several sequences showed Malema dancing in front of tens of thousands of spectators while he and his comrades chanted “kill the Boer, the farmer!” and declared that “we are cutting the throat of whiteness!”
HOLY CRAP! President Trump just DIRECTLY confronted the President of South Africa with videos of his government calling for WHITE GENOCIDE
“Turn the lights down and roll the video!”
“These are burial sites — crosses marking murdered White farmers”
In another clip, former president Jacob Zuma (2009–2018) was seen singing a well-known black protest song that includes the same chorus with “kill the Boers”. According to critics, this song has contributed to increased tensions and more attacks on white farmers. The film also showed roadside memorials dedicated to what were said to be dozens of murdered white farmers.
Trump also criticized a new South African law that allows the South African state to confiscate unused land – land that is often owned by the white minority. Elon Musk, who was born in South Africa and is now a close advisor to Trump, was also present at the meeting and listened as the president recounted what an acquaintance had told him:
– They take your land and they kill you if you’re white.
– I will say, apartheid, terrible. That was the biggest story – that was reported all the time. This is sort of the opposite of apartheid. What’s happening now is never reported, the president continued, wondering why Malema was not imprisoned when he called for genocide in front of television cameras and tens of thousands of spectators.
“Not government policy”
Ramaphosa remained very calm during the hour-long conversation held before the assembled press and firmly denied that Malema’s calls for genocide reflect the South African government’s position:
– What you saw, the speeches that were being made, one that is not government policy. Our government policy is completely, completely against what (Malema) was saying, he asserted.
Vi vet vad massmedia hade kallat det här om det hade varit vita sydafrikaner som hade skanderat detta om svarta.pic.twitter.com/Q43H3kAzMV
In an attempt to appease the Trump administration, Ramaphosa chose to highlight the South African golfers Ernie Els and Retief Goosen, who are popular in the US and accompanied him on the trip, and to thank Trump for the US’s delivery of ventilators during the COVID-19 crisis in 2020.
South Africa’s Minister of Agriculture Jan Steenhuisen, who is himself white, also attended the conference and argued that the security situation in rural areas is indeed very poor. However, he did not want to call it genocide or even suggest that white farmers were particularly vulnerable.
– It requires a lot of effort to get on top of it. It’s going to require more policing resources, it’s gonna require a different strategy to be able to deal with it. But certainly, the majority of South Africa’s commercial and smallholder farmers really do want to stay in South Africa and make it work, he claimed.
Steenhuisen claimed that his party, the liberal Democratic Alliance, which won 21 percent of the vote in the last election, entered into a coalition with Ramaphosa’s ANC (approximately 40 percent of the vote) precisely to keep people like Malema out of power.
Malema’s EFF and Zuma’s MK, which are significantly more openly hostile and disapproving of the white minority than Ramaphosa’s ANC, together have around 25 percent of the vote.
A “violent country”
Zingiswa Losi, president of the country’s largest trade union, COSATU, had also been flown in and tried to convince Trump that South Africa is a “violent country” – and that people are killed regardless of their ethnic background.
– If you go into the rural areas where the black majority are, you will see women, elderly, being raped, being killed, being murdered. The problem in South Africa, it is not necessarily about race, but it is about crime, she claimed.
Ramaphosa himself could not deny that senseless violence and murder continue to be part of everyday life in South Africa – but he claims that this is due to “inequality and unemployment” – and that the problems can be solved by improving South Africa’s economy.
– Our main, main, real reason for being here is to foster trade and investment, so that we are able to grow our economy, with your support, and so that we are also able to address all these societal problems.
When Ramaphosa left the White House after three hours, he told reporters that the meeting “went very well”.
Mocked white refugees
However, not everyone is impressed by the South African leader’s defense, and several have pointed out how he recently mocked white South Africans who fled to the US to escape persecution and oppression.
GENOCIDE: South African President Ramaphosa insists that the whites facing genocide do so as men and not flee to America like cowards. White farmers must pay for the sins of their ancestors with their lives. pic.twitter.com/fYAMlEfpVX
In a speech, he claimed before a laughing audience that Afrikaners are fleeing for “fictitious reasons” – and asserted that South Africa is “united in diversity”.
– None of us should ever feel that they have lost courage and now become cowards and want to run, the president said, mocking the white refugees.
Earlier this year, The Nordic Times highlighted the Afrikaners’ uncertain future and their centuries-long history in the country in a lengthy cultural article.
The Trump administration has begun relocating white South Africans to the US. The president himself defends the decision by saying that the group is being subjected to genocide – but that this is being hushed up because it is white people who are affected.
Fifty-nine white South Africans have already been flown into the country and, according to the Trump administration, are the first in a larger relocation of Afrikaners – a white minority group subjected to widespread violence, persecution, and discrimination in their homeland.
The program, which was presented in February, prioritizes Afrikaners who are considered to be in constant danger due to violence and harassment in predominantly black South Africa.
– Because they’re being killed. And we don’t want to see people be killed… it’s a genocide that’s taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white, Trump said in a press statement when a journalist demanded an answer as to why the president wanted to help white refugees in particular.
Afrikaners – mainly descendants of Dutch and French settlers who came to South Africa hundreds of years ago – make up about 2.7 million of South Africa’s 62 million inhabitants.
Many live in rural areas, where violent crime against farmers is common, and although there are no longer any official statistics, it is clear that thousands of white South Africans have been murdered in recent decades.
U.S. officials greet white South Africans to whom the Trump administration has granted refugee status for being deemed victims of racial discrimination in their home country. pic.twitter.com/JwaVyziofT
Trump and several of his advisers, including South African Elon Musk, have pointed out that the murders are often motivated by racial hatred and that the victims are targeted because they are white.
However, South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola rejects the accusations and claims that “there is no data at all that backs that there is persecution of white South Africans”.
– White farmers get affected by crime just like any other South Africans, he claims.
The South African government further claims that Afrikaners are better off than most people in the country and that misinformation and inaccurate reporting are behind the perception that the group is particularly vulnerable.
Journalists, lobby organizations promoting mass immigration, and political opponents have also reacted with dismay to Trump’s decision to focus on helping white refugees rather than people of non-European descent.
“Brutally killed”
However, Trump stands his ground and emphasizes that he is not helping the Afrikaners because of their skin color, but because they are suffering from something horrific – something that is being silenced by Western media.
REPORTER: Why are you creating an expedited path into the country for Afrikaners but not others?
TRUMP: Because they’re being killed. And we don’t want to see people be killed … it’s a genocide that’s taking place. Farmers are being killed. They happen to be white. pic.twitter.com/8LV3VmZ296
– Whether they are white or Black makes no difference to me, but white farmers are being brutally killed, and their land is being confiscated in South Africa.
– The newspapers and the media, television media, doesn’t even talk about it. If it were the other way round, they’d talk about it, that would be the only story they talk about. I don’t care who they are. I don’t care about their race, their color, I don’t care about their height, their weight, I don’t care about anything, I just know that what is happening is terrible.
Earlier this year, The Nordic Times highlighted the lives and history of the Afrikaners in a lengthy cultural article.
Donald Trump has announced that he has initiated a process to impose a 100% tariff on all films produced outside the US that are then imported into the country. Critics warn of the consequences and argue that tariffs will worsen the situation for the American film industry.
The decision, which was announced on May 4, is intended, according to Trump, to protect the American film industry, which he believes is on the verge of “a very fast death”, reports industry publication Variety.
– This is a concerted effort by other nations and, therefore, a national security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda, Trump wrote on his platform Truth Social.
Trump said he has instructed the Department of Commerce and the US Trade Representative to quickly begin the process of imposing the tariffs.
Exact details on how the tariffs will be implemented, such as whether they will also cover streaming services or how the size of the tariffs will be calculated, have not yet been announced.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick has confirmed that the authorities are working on the issue.
Donald Trump claims he is placing a 100% tariff on all films produced outside of America that are brought into the country.
“Any and all movies coming into our country that are produced in Foreign Lands. WE WANT MOVIES MADE IN AMERICA, AGAIN!” pic.twitter.com/EsQ9Pe5T2T
Many American productions are currently filmed in several countries that offer financial incentives for film production, including Canada, the UK, and Australia, and industry representatives are now concerned about how the tariffs would affect ongoing projects and collaborations.
The chair of the Swedish Film and TV Producers Association, Eva Hamilton, called the proposal “incredibly stupid” and warned that it could isolate the US culturally and economically.
– It just sounds incredibly stupid, and I find it hard to see how it could be implemented. He’s right that Hollywood hasn’t kept up, but stopping all foreign expertise sounds like shooting yourself in the foot, Eva Hamilton said in an interview with Schibsted owned TV4.
Trump has previously singled out Hollywood as a “very problematic place” and, in early 2025, appointed actors Jon Voight, Mel Gibson, and Sylvester Stallone as ambassadors to promote American film production.
The American film industry has already been affected by Trump’s trade war, and China, among others, has reduced its quota for American films allowed to be shown in response to the new American tariffs on the country.
